Meltem Demirors

Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, the digital asset manager, and a cryptocurrency investor, advisor, and advocate, with a unique blend of experience in both legacy & blockchain-based finance and cryptocurrencies.

On the legacy finance front, Ms. Demirors worked with some of the largest companies in the world, mainly on financial risk management and capital efficiency. On the blockchain-based finance side, she has had an intense focus on portfolio management and network development, beginning in the early days of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

In her role at CoinShares, Ms. Demirors builds asset management products to provide institutional investors with exposure to crypto assets and blockchain companies. In addition, she serves as the managing director of the firm’s US operations.

Ms. Demirors most recently served as Vice President of Development at Digital Currency Group, where she managed an investment portfolio of 110 companies cryptocurrency and blockchain companies across 30 countries and advised some of the world’s largest financial institutions and corporations.

Ms. Demirors also invests in and supports cryptocurrency and blockchain startups via her personal fund, Shiny Pony Ventures. She advocates for a number of industry initiatives focused on market infrastructure and portfolio management practices; most notably via her participation in the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council.

Ms. Demirors holds a BA in Mathematical Economics from Rice University and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She works closely with the academic community on education efforts, and helped create the MIT “Future of Commerce” online course and the Oxford Saïd Business School Blockchain Strategy Program. Ms. Demirors regularly writes and shares her thoughts via her Medium blog, is passionate about financial privacy and civil liberties.